Hi - I just want to explain some things for those who may not know. If you buy a product that has the letter "U" in a circle, this means that the item is kosher. NOW, if there is the letter "D" next to the circle it indicates the presence of dairy. I have run into the situation where there is a "U" and a "D", but yet the ingredients do not list any dairy in the product, when I called the manufacturer, they said that the product was produced in a plant with items that contained dairy.
also, if you look on some products you will see the word parve - this means that it is a dairy free kosher item.

Look in your area for a kosher bakery - the one that is close to our house is parve - dairy free and also nut free. they have a good selection of breads, cookies,cupcakes,cakes as well as many other items.

By gelatin I am assuming a beef allergy, correct me if I am wrong. Gelatin can also be fish or pork. What animal gelatin is the source of your allergy? I read information about kosher laws today and they are soooooo confusing. Here is what I read:

"For a meat to be considered kosher, the animal must have had cloven hooves and chewed its cud (for example cow, goat or lamb). Fowl such as chicken, turkey certain duck and certain geese are also considered kosher. All meats and fowl however, must be raised by humane methods, as dictated by jewish law, and the meat soaked and salted under ritual supervision in order to meet kosher requirements" Also, fish with fins and scales is allowed.

So, I would say that kosher certification is NOT enough to say that a food is free of animal derived gelatin. You may just be getting the gelatin from a happy cow! Happy of course when it was alive, not now that it is J-E-L-L-O.

Also, combining meat and milk is prohibited. Parve foods contain no milk or meat with the exception that fish is allowed. I am unsure about whether egg is allowed in anything or what the rules are if any.

Confused yet? I know I am. Basically, you can not rely on kosher status alone for accurate info regarding allergies.

I guess I'm a confused as everyone else. My allergist says no geletin of any sort. We haven't figured out if the geletin is beef, pork or fish that I had a reaction to. We only confirmed the allergy after confirming that my anaphlatic reaction wasn't an antibotic and a positive skin test to the geletin capsule. I have had reactions to geletin in yogurt (wasn't labelled, but that's another story!), JELLO and marshmallows (hidden in a dessert from a well meaning friend). My family doctor told me that she felt that I could have kosher marshmallows. After too many reactions I want to do my own research.
Thanks for the information,
Tammy

You may be able to find products that are labelled "vegan" that are free of gelatin. Vegan meaning no meat, no fish, no eggs no milk no animal products (includes gelatin). Specialty health food stores carry some vegan products (thats where I buy my vegan margarine), local grocery stores are limited in their vegan selections.

This might help explain it a bit better. It shows some alternatives which might work in your own baking (guar gum, carageenan). If you surf the web for vegan recipes which use guar gum you may be able to find some recipes for "traditionally gelatin based" dishes. Please share and post any if you come across anything or products, I will do the same. My daughters have allergies to peanuts, nuts, milk, eggs, chicken, and husband to eggs, tree nuts, and fish. My daughters and I do not eat meat (I will not eat pork or beef...personal YUCK factor), and strictly avoiding fish due to their dads allergy. We have not been eating gelatin either, since it may be fish.

I found this recipe, if you want to make your own, but it does not contain a gelatin substitute, not sure how well it would work in all recipes requiring marshmallows

Please be careful about using the kosher symbols to decide if a product is safe or not.

This is a religious certification and not for specific dietary needs.

For example, a kosher bakery might still have problems with dairy cross-contamination, and because they are not specifically catering to an allergic clientele, they are not even aware that this is a potential problem. It's very possible that they are able to allow trace amounts of dairy into their products and still have it considered kosher.

Some individuals with dairy allergies have looked to a kosher pareve designation to mean that the food is safe for them to consume. This is a very dangerous perception that the cRc feels needs to be clarified.

Pareve is a designation indicating that a food contains neither milk nor meat products, by-products, or derivatives. It is critical to understand that the designation of pareve is given solely on the basis of halacha (Jewish Law). When a product is marked pareve (excepting the rare case of mislabeling – a subject for another discussion) by a reputable Kashrus agency, the religious consumer knows that the product meets all halachic criteria and may be used with any meal. But relying on this certification as a 100% certainty for medical reasons is a decision that requires careful consideration on part of the consumer, along with an understanding of the realities of food processing. [ ... ]

With the complexities of food processing, it is not hard to imagine that in a plant that makes both pareve and dairy items, a very small quantity of a dairy ingredient could find its way into an otherwise pareve product. The same possibility exists at the manufacturing site of any ingredients used in an end product. So-called human factors can still come into play regardless of how vigilant the cRc is in supervising factories. Something as simple as airborne dust, a cleaning process that misses part of the equipment, or the mistaken substitution of a dairy ingredient in a formulation can all lead to trace contamination of a pareve product. In most of these situations, the finished product is still pareve according to halacha.

More details follow at that URL.

Sorry to burst anyone's bubble - we too are dealing with a severe dairy allergy and I would LOVE to have something reliable on the packaging that would tell me if a product is truly dairy-free, but the kosher symbol isn't the way to go. It could be a starting point, but I would still call the company to confirm things.

A sort of opposite situation can occur too, where you avoid foods with the U(D) or other Kosher(D) symbol in error. A milk-free margarine that I use called Nuvel added the U(D) symbol, but when I noticed it (after using the product for many months) and called, I was assured that there was absolutely no dairy in the product or on the line.... I'm glad I called, because otherwise I would have stopped using the product.

Hi - I ahve a son who is severly allergic to dairy and peanuts, as well. I was only giving information on what I know of kosher symbols and meanings - I ALWAYS read labels - even if the product clearly states that the item is dairy/nut free - you would be foolish to not. The kosher bakery was a suggestion - ours clearly states 100% dairy and nut free - again it would be foolish to not check. Living with allergies means constantly checking - end of story.

The margarine I buy is made in Quebec and it's called Nuvel and it is dairy-free. I don't know if it's available outside of Quebec. I know that members of my support group have tried to find it in Ottawa with no success.

I have called the company twice - first when I found it and another time when I noticed a new U(D) symbol on the packaging - which almost gave me heart failure. They assured me that there was no dairy on the line or in the product, and frankly seemed confused by why they even had to have the Kosher(D) symbol on it. But they were very firm in their assurances that there was no dairy in the product, so I went with that.

I didn't mean to imply that you weren't taking all precautions - I just didn't want anyone to think that the kosher symbols were the best thing to go on. (And I know we'd all love a bit of help in the dairy-free department - it ain't easy being truly dairy-free!) So sorry if I offended in any way.

I'm a bit sensitive to "dairy-free" claims because we've had some issues with a kosher bakery in Ottawa that claimed to be dairy-free, but when questioned, didn't even realize that margarine could have dairy in it...!! So I just wanted to make sure that people are aware of the difference between "dairy-free" from a kosher perspective and "dairy-free" from a severe milk-allergy perspective. (And for me, if this particular bakery isn't truly aware of what's involved in being dairy free, I wouldn't trust them to truly know what it takes to be peanut or nut free.)

Just my experience and 2 cents. I realize others will have had other more positive experiences.

Karen, I was relieved to see your comments regarding Parve products not necessarily being 100% dairy-free. In fact, according to Jewish law, a product only has to have less than 1 part in 60 (inadvertent) dairy contamination to be considered Parve, so it's definitely not for the dairy-allergic.

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